Below please find a press release from Senator Patrick Testin’s office.

A PDF of this press release can be found here.

A new website, www.QualifiedtoHeal.com, shares the stories of nurses whose practice has been unnecessarily restricted by Wisconsin law. It hosts a petition where the public can express support for legislation that empowers these professionals to do the work for which they’re trained.

The website was launched by Senator Patrick Testin (Stevens Point), Senator Rachael Cabral-Guevara (Appleton), and Representative Gae Magnafici (Dresser), authors of the APRN (Advanced Practice Registered Nurse) Modernization Act. If passed, the bill would enable Wisconsin’s nearly 8,000 advanced practice nurses to provide care to the full extent of their education and training.

“Once people hear real stories from nurses about how Wisconsin’s current law limits their ability to help patients, they’re going to demand change,” said Testin. “The petition we’ve included on the website will ensure those demands are heard.”

“I’m proud to serve my constituents in the Fox Valley as a Wisconsin State Senator and I’m proud to serve my patients as an Advance Practice Nurse Prescriber/Family Nurse Practitioner,” said Cabral-Guevara. “QualifiedtoHeal.com will give the public further insight into what we do now and what could be done to improve health care outcomes in Wisconsin.”

Proponents of the bill emphasized its ability to increase access to healthcare for people who live in underserved areas.

“More than one million Wisconsinites live in an area with a shortage of healthcare professionals,” said Magnafici, a legislator with three decades of nursing experience. “Rural residents, like my constituents, will benefit from empowering these nurses.”

Twenty-seven states – as politically diverse as Connecticut and Utah – plus the District of Columbia have enacted reforms similar to the APRN Modernization Act.